slave to the rhythm

As part of the life reform movement of the early 20th century, Swiss composer and music educator Émile Jaques-Dalcroze founded the method of rhythmic-musical education, a method of representing the immediate connection between music and movement as a kind of mobile sculpture. This creative approach was to be nothing less than one element of a comprehensive social design, a socio-utopian experiment, originating in the search for a new human being. The concept of holism, of a harmonious synergy of all forces was at the centre of these rhythmic dance exercises.
In “slave to the rhythm”, Leipzig-born choreographer Hermann Heisig attempts a physical approach to Dalcroze’s method, examining its inherent utopian potential from the perspective of contemporary life experiences.  He focuses less on a detailed reconstruction of the historical model than on a confrontation of holistic ideologies of the body with the fragmented patterns of perception prevalent in our times.  Heisig is interested in the point at which harmony becomes totalitarian, the lively becomes mechanical or the rhythm and dynamics of a group spin out of control. Together with five dancers and a pianist, he sets out on a bold quest for a life reform movement for the 21st century.